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Assessed property values among highest in county
But looks can be deceiving. Real market values continue to wane. According to the Los Angeles County Assessor's annual report, Calabasas property values increased 13.1 percent in 2006, while the assessed valuation of homes, condos and businesses in Westlake Village rose 12.8 percent. Lancaster showed the greatest increase at 21.1 percent. Calabasas and Westlake came in sixth and seventh respectively. According to assessor Rick Auerbach's report, the 2006 tax roll for Los Angeles County jumped an unprecedented $88 billion to reach the trillion-dollar level for the first time. "Even if there is a gradual slowing in real estate activity through the end of 2007, and we see a change from a seller's market to a buyer's market, I believe the trilliondollar roll will increase in the upcoming years," Auerbach said in a statement. Assessed valuation provides the basis for determining an owner's property tax, but it does not necessarily represent the market value of a property. The assessed valuation barometer can be misleading, says Robert Slavin, a Westlake Village property tax attorney and member of the City Council. Much of the increase locally has come about due to older homes with low valuations that were recently sold and reassessed at much higher prices. "To say (Westlake) property values are up 12 percent is not entirely accurate," Slavin said. Proposition 13, the tax law that fixes the valuation of some homes at levels as far back as 1975, allows no more than a 2 percent increase in yearoveryear value, but when a home is sold the property is immediately reassessed, Slavin said. The resulting jump can be enormous. Changes of ownership requiring a reassessment under Prop. 13 accounted for the lion's share of the L.A. County increase. Each property that changed ownership resulted in an average increase of $356,000 in assessed value, compared to $332,000 the previous year, Auerbach's report said. The spike in valuation helps build the assessor's coffer and puts more property tax revenue in the pockets of local government, but doesn't give a true reading of how the real estate market is performing for homeowners. Due to falling sales, the argument can be made that property values in Westlake Village and Calabasas are down, not up, Slavin said. In Ventura County, officials have begun a widespread reassessment of homes that could have a detrimental effect on next year's tax roll. In Westlake Village, part of the big increase in the current tax roll is due to a spate of new office construction and the opening of the lucrative Four Seasons Hotel. Calabasas has experienced similar growth, that which is likely to continue. The city's General Plan reportedly calls for 3.7 million square feet of commercial development over the next 20 years. Property assessments in Calabasas went up almost $716 million from the prior year, from $5.48 to $6.2 billion. Agoura Hills, which has seen more limited growth, saw its property valuation rise 7 percent. Agoura Hills has more commercial parcels than Calabasas- 386 to 250. But Calabasas has more residential parcels than its neighbor to the west- 7,795 to 7,141. Further drop for median home prices June sales of Conejo Valley single-family homes totaled 148. This compares to 134 sold in May and 176 a year ago, according to Allen Reznick, president of the Conejo Valley Association of Realtors. Median sales price for singlefamily homes in June 2007 was $866,666; in 2006 it was $880,769. The median price is the point where half of the units sold for more and half for less. Total sales for all real estate transactions in June were $187.7 million. The total in June last year was $236.1 million. New residential listings totaled 458 in June, compared to 429 in May and 450 a year ago. |
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